Sacramento CA to Missoula MT

[Paul Robert]

I July I’m traveling to Missoula in my SUV. I would like to travel the least mountainous roads. I do like staying on major roads.

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

If your aim is to get there as quickly and safely as possible you will need one overnight stop to break the journey. Although slightly over 100 miles longer than the most direct route you might be best suited to Interstate which would lead to I-80/US93/I84/86/15/90. If you want to tell us more about your trip we can offer more meaningful advice.

[glc]

You can't avoid mountains, but the almost all Interstate route that Dave suggested would be your best bet. The only non-Interstate is US-93 between Wells and Twin Falls, and it's not particularly mountainous. I would recommend either Wells or Twin Falls for an overnight stop.

[AZBuck]

If you really want to stay on Interstates and avoid surface roads through the mountains as much as possible, then a western alternative to the shortest possible route might be in order rather than an eastern one. In particular US-93 through northern and eastern Nevada is often two-lane road with significant No Passing zones and modest grades. The western alternative would be I-5 to Portland, I-84/I-82 to Kennewick, US-395 to I-90 to Missoula. US-395 is also a two-land surface road, but sticks mostly to high plains and has fewer grades and No Passing zones. It's a bit longer (1,125 miles) than Dave's suggestion (1,055 mi.), which is longer than the shortest route (892 mi.), but in each case you'd be driving more miles to get easier terrain. It's up to you how much you want to trade for the other.

AZbuck

[glc]

US-395 is multilane all the way from I-82 to I-90. It's a city street with traffic lights through Kennewick, then near-freeway quality from there to I-90.

[Paul Robert]

This is the route I was looking at. I will plan at least 2 overnight stops. I wanted to make sure these would be the easiest roads to travel. I don’t like windy roads

[glc]

You can't avoid all winding roads, but Buck's route avoids all 2 lane roads. You do have to go over the Siskiyous on I-5 and Lookout Pass on I-90. I've driven that route and it's all relatively good roads.